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Provoke Habit
Provoke Habit ''is the third studio album by 404 (named Keeponrockin404 at the time of release). The album was originally uploaded to YouTube on May 22, 2015 and was released to bandcamp that same day. Background Not too long after ''Until I Die ''had been released, Louis already considered it to be a complete mistake and an utter failure. To make up for this, he wanted to refine his sound and create an album that was a single vision rather than a seemingly random collection of poorly-made songs. Around the same time, he was working on dance instrumentals as practice for FL Studio, and he was uploading these to his Newgrounds account. The best of these went on to be released in the compilation album, ''Instrumentals. Through this process, Louis finally learned to use the mixer feature on FL Studio, allowing him to mix his songs directly from the program so as to avoid a loss of quality when rendering the final products. He also learned to apply effects to the instruments, which led him to over-use the Soundgoodizer plug-in that boosts the bass on an instrument and amplifies its sound. Recording and Production The recording process for Provoke Habit ''spanned ten months, the longest period of time that Louis spent on an album. It should be noted, however, that the album's songs did not actually take ten months to record, rather that it took ten months to refine the album and select which songs would make it onto it. In total, 26 tracks were created for the album, nine of which were never finished, and the other two appearing as b-sides to the singles. Four of these tracks would later appear on the ''Unacceptable Mistakes ''compilation. Other tracks, such as "A Walk in the Park," had to be re-recorded due to their poor first takes that were originally to be included. The recording process was similar to that of ''Until I Die, including the use of a Blue Snowball microphone and FL Studio features like the piano roll, mixer, Soundgoodizer, and Sytrus (only on "Ultimatum"). The main difference is that the songs were mixed on FL Studio instead of in PowerDirector 12. Music and Lyrics The album is almost entirely an alternative rock album, with only one rap verse that appears on "You're Wrong." The songs experiment with a wide array of musical styles, but they rarely stray from rock formulas and song structures. Much like Until I Die, however, the album would be better categorized as outsider music due to their amateur production, mixing, and vocal performances (coupled with the fact that no real instruments were used). The album is very lyrically diverse, however. Songs like "The World Isn't Dead," "Adieu (How Do You Feel)," and "A Walk in the Park" are lyrically more somber than many of the songs from the previous two albums. Many of the songs also feature angst that is normally associated with alternative rock and grunge. Album Art The ''Provoke Habit ''album art was drawn by KC, with art direction from Louis. It features a red tribal tattoo design in front of a black background, with the album's title large at the top left of the artwork. Louis and KC both agree that the album art is supremely lackluster. Re-Issue ''Provoke Habit ''was re-issued onto CD on December 1, 2016. The CD features a 16-page booklet with the lyrics printed inside, and does not stray from the black, white, and red color scheme that is on the album art. Track Listing Personnel Louis Falgout - Vocals, production, writer JC - Sampled on "Chores" KC - Album artCategory:Albums Category:Big 4